Music: Josh Groban is in the zone

"Minneapolis is going to be a very special place to play," Josh Groban said the other day.

Does that sound like standard show-biz baloney, or what? He probably says that about every city.

Well, no. Minneapolis is where Groban wrote six of the 13 songs on his new album, "Illuminations." He is genuinely excited to sing them Friday at Target Center.

The classical-meets-pop star left Los Angeles for the Land of 10,000 Musical Hooks at the insistence of Minneapolis songwriter-for-hire Dan Wilson. And Groban is glad he did.

"It makes my brain calmer when I get to sit in a room with someone like Dan," he said.

Bringing Groban to Minneapolis was "like the urban equivalent of going to the woods," said Wilson, who recently relocated to Los Angeles to pursue more songwriting opportunities. "It's not calmer in L.A."

Groban, 30, had a specific vision for his fifth studio album: a singer/songwriter project driven more by songs and his voice and less by elaborate production. So producer Rick Rubin paired him with Wilson, who won a song-of-the-year Grammy for co-writing the Dixie Chicks' "Not Ready to Make Nice." He also co-wrote three songs on Adele's current blockbuster, "21."

Groban had never written more than three or four songs on an album, but on "Illuminations" -- thanks to Wilson and others -- he helped write all but two pieces.

He came to Minneapolis a half-dozen times during the winter of 2008-09 and the fall of '09 for three-day writing sessions. He and Wilson would walk and talk about ideas en route to Starbucks. Or sometimes ideas would be exchanged over lunch at Common Roots or the Wilde Roast Cafe. Then they'd write at Wilson's house in Kenwood.

At night, Groban would often explore Minneapolis on his own. He recalls hanging out at the Local (and drinking Jameson whiskeys). "One night I was there and a dad and a son were having a beer and cheering and I said, 'What's the occasion?' 'My son just pitched his first game tonight for the Twins.' [We're guessing Anthony Swardzak.]"

One challenge was to create lyrics that fit the formality of Groban's classically trained baritone. Wilson was surprised not only by Groban's lyric-writing skills but by his ability to rewrite spontaneously.

"He's fearless about generating something new as an alternative right then and there," said Wilson, the former Semisonic frontman who has written with Jason Mraz, John Legend and others. "It's not something everyone can do."

"Illuminations" is warmer and more intimate than its majestic-sounding, David Foster-produced predecessors. There's still romance and drama, whether Groban is singing in English, French, Italian or Portuguese, but less bombast. Fans have responded enthusiastically, buying more than 1 million copies since it was released in November.

"I've never felt freer onstage," he said of his interaction with the crowd. "It's the most fun I've ever had in my career, to be honest."

The concert features a Q&A segment in which fans text questions. In some cities, people have asked to sing a song with him. Maybe someone at Target Center will offer to buy him a Jameson.